1961 Corvair
The 1960-1969 Chevrolet Corvair was a rear-engine engineering marvel. Meant to compete head-on with the popular Volkswagen Beetle, the Corvair was Chevy’s first compact car. It featured independent front and rear suspension—the first GM product to have both, and clean, fluid styling applied to Fisher Body’s first unibody, as well as the air-cooled horizontally-opposed, aluminum 6-cylinder engine hooked to either a modified 2-speed Powerglide automatic, or manual 3- or 4-speed transaxle. Ford, Chrysler and American Motors all introduced their own answers to the Volkswagen, but they were conventional layouts and styling. Initially available as a coupe, convertible, 4-door sedan, station wagon, rampside pickup (Loadside) and van (Greenbriar Sportswagon); the station wagon, van, and pickup were dropped when the new styling debuted in 1965.
Controversy surrounded the Corvair, from its habit of tucking wheels under the car during hard cornering, resulting in severe accidents. This deficiency was broadcasted to the world from the book “Unsafe at Any Speed” by crusader Ralph Nader. A simple stabilizer bar was added to the rear end to eliminate the problem, and most Corvairs were retrofitted with the component. The rear end was completely redesigned for the new 1965 models.
A sports car of sorts was created with the RPO 649 “Spyder” package for Corvair Monzas, which added a turbocharger to increase performance. Named the “Super Turbo Air”, stouter engine components, a 4-speed manual transmission, and improved suspension components were found on Spyders to help support the extra horsepower and torque.
Chevy determined the Corvair was more of a “specialty” car than a compact, in spite of sales of over 200,000 units the first six years of production. They initiated a program to design a more traditional compact, which became the Nova in 1961. Sales steadily declined after the Nader book, and Chevrolet cancelled the Corvair after the 1969 model year.
1961 Corvair
The station wagon, called “Lakewood” was added along with the Monza trim for 4-door sedans and club coupes. The 4-speed manual transmission advertised but not available in 1960, was now available. Air conditioning was a mid-year addition, and in non-air conditioned Corvairs the spare tire was moved to the engine compartment allowing for extra trunk space up front. Engines saw a slight increase in displacement, adding an extra three-hp to the higher output version.
AVAILABLE MODELS:
1961 Corvair
- Body Style
- 2 Door Coupe
- 4 Door Sedan
- Convertible
- Station Wagon (Lakewood)
- Engine Options
- Opposed Flat 6, 145ci 2-1bbl 80hp
- Opposed Flat 6, 145ci 2-1bbl 98hp
1961 Corvair VIN Decoder:
First Character: Model Year
Second and Third Characters: Body Series
- 05 ~ Corvair Standard
- 07 ~ Corvair Deluxe
- 09 ~ Corvair Monza
Fourth and Fifth Character: Body Style
- 19 ~ 4-Dr Sedan
- 27 ~ Club Coupe
- 37 ~ 2-Dr Sport Coupe
- 39 ~ 4-Dr Sport Sedan
- 35 ~ 6-Pass. Station Wagon
- 67 ~ Convertible
Sixth Character: Assembly Plant
- K ~ Kansas City, Missouri
- L ~ Los Angeles, California
- O ~ Oakland, California
- W ~ Willow Run, Michigan
Last Six Digits: Production Sequence
- Starting number: 100001/up. Subtract 100,000 to obtain vehicle number
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